Plot: A U.S Senator's presidential campaign is derailed when he's caught in a scandalous affair.

The type of story, the cast involved and the timing of its release all screamed potential Oscar contender.


But after seeing it, I was rather under-whelmed.


Don't worry, it's not a bad film. The whole thing moves along nicely, there is a lot of intrigue at the start as well as some very good character introductions. Every bit of story and character development is executed well. But the pay-off had no strong or even memorable finale that warranted the type of hype and marketing it was given.


Hug Jackman did what Hugh Jackman does. He had a solid screen presence and gave us a character we could invest our time with. I felt his on-screen relationship with Vera Farmiga was believable and they both carried the film well to make it passable viewing.
Sadly, this film also gave us another wasted casting of J.K. Simmons who offered nothing. He is one of my favourite actors and has given us some top performances in the past such as in Whiplash or the Spider-Man trilogy. But this one just reminded me of his contribution to the highly disappointing the The Snowman.


In the end, it's a perfectly fine but few memorable moments to warrant a second viewing. For a film to be released in the middle of the hot-bed of when the Oscar contenders usually get released, and with a star and a promising story, you would expect a lot from this.


Instead, you get something that while has nothing bad about it, just ends up being rather ordinary. It goes through the motions you might expect it to, it ends up in a pretty conventional way and the whole film is passable at best.


The strongest reviews will be from people who have never seen a political scandal related film in their life and think of this as something totally new to them.


This is a real shame, and I'm afraid this will easily get forgotten


Rating: 7/10